SUFFIELD — Most mothers wouldn't even think about letting their children turn her dining room into a playroom, but Joanne Sullivan really didn't have a choice.

She had five young sons and a husband, Dan, who coached three sports at Windsor Locks High School. The Sullivans were always playing something, and looking for a playroom when they couldn't get outside.

Her dining room just happened to be the biggest room in the Suffield house.

"We did not have furniture for 20 years [in there]," Joanne Sullivan, 75, said recently. "It was a mini-gym, and they'd play any kind of game in there."

It has been a long time since the Sullivan boys wreaked havoc in that room, but their competitive passion remains strong and has been applied to other endeavors, like coaching soccer, the family's true craft.

Dave, the second-youngest at 47, has made Suffield one of the most successful state girls soccer programs, behind only Immaculate-Danbury, Trumbull and Wilton. The Wildcats played in the Class LL final last season and have six titles since 1998. For a data base of CIAC titles in all sports, go to courant.com/statechamps.

"I knew I wanted to be a coach when I was 16 years old," Dave said. "I was a camp counselor and we did all sports, and I was hooked."

Brian (54), Mark (52) and Dan (50) all coach and work with kids in town, some of whom Dave has gone on to coach. Corey, 44, coaches in Rhode Island, where he lives.

"I think they enjoy coaching as much as they did playing," Joanne said.

For more than 40 years, their father was one of the most successful coaches in the state, coaching boys soccer, basketball and baseball at Windsor Locks, winning 1,255 games combined (396 in soccer).

His style rubbed off on his sons.

"I think the thing that defines all of us is that my dad taught us to be gentlemen first," Dave said. "All of us coached and played the same way. … We're going to play with sportsmanship, but you're going to give 110 percent and go as hard as you can. You have to be prepared if it's a 50-50 ball, we're going to win the ball. That's how we were taught."

Dan, 78, won six soccer titles but didn't get to see many of his sons' games. He did, however, coach against each son while at Windsor Locks.

"I always told them if I lose, you better have something to do with it, and they did," Dan said.

Dave has done his best to follow in his father's footsteps, but also create his own path. In 16 seasons he has led the Wildcats to six state championships, 10 state final appearances, 10 NCCC titles, two undefeated seasons and a 267-33-17 record.

But it nearly didn't happen.

In 1997, after returning to Suffield from a job in Maine, Dave was asked by two baby sitters to coach the girls team. They knew he had won a state title with the boys team in a four-year stint as a young coach at the school (1990-1993). Dave wasn't sure, but he told the girls if they could convince his wife, he'd do it.

"[My wife Michelle] came to me and said if you want to do it they deserve a coach that will care and get them through it," Dave said. "I said 'one year.'"

So much for the time frame.

Dave has help make the Wildcats a premier girls soccer program. And he's done it his way. He can be loud and tough, but also fatherly. And he has no problem with players participating in different sports and getting a full athletic experience, rare in these days of soccer specialization.

"We were always pushed to be a three-sport athlete, and I firmly believe in that," Dave said. "My best four years were playing three sports and I think that is what some of these kids are losing."

The formula worked just fine for the Sullivan brothers, who all played college soccer, and Dave's younger son Sean, who was an All-American last season and plays at Bentley this year.

"It was just a very athletic family," Dan said.

Dave played at Boston College (holding the program scoring record for a time) and his brothers played for Hartford and Rhode Island. Each Sullivan also left a mark on Suffield.

"We went through a ton of baby sitters growing up and it wasn't because we were bad kids," Dave said. "We were just always playing sports."

Next season, another Sullivan is on the way to Suffield. Dave's daughter McKenzie will take the field.

"It has been quite the ride," Dan said. "Soccer has always been our game."